Improvement in holdbacks for carriages



C.,A. MESSENGER.

Hd'Id-Backs for Carriages'.

N0 l50,|76 l Patented Apri|28,1874.

77 v'ness es. l [une :zZ-o7? CHARLES A. MESSENGER, OF SYRAOSE, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF HIS RIGHT TO ALEXANDER O. GOFF, OF SAME PLACE.

lmeaovemaar IN HoLoBAoKs Fon cARRlAeEs.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 150,1?6, dated April 23, 1874; application filed November 24, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Bc it known that I, CHARLES A. MESSEN- GER, of Syracuse, New York, have invented an Improvement in Holdbaok for Oarriages, of which the following is a specification:

Several devices have heretofore been essayed for attaching the breeohing of a harness to the thills, so as to be self-detaching in case of aocident or otherwise in a convenient and ready manner; but they have been either too expensive, inefficient, or otherwise defective.

My invention is intended to remedy all the defects and inconveniences heretofore experienced, so far as I am informed.

The construction is as follows:

Referring to the accompanying drawing, Figure l is a side elevation of the device affixed to the shaft. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the catch-plate. Fig. 3 is a top plan of the catch.

Like parts are designated by the saine let` ters in the several figures.

a is a met-al plate, having a hook, @projecting from its face at the rear end. This hook has a curve forward, as will be clearly seen in Figs. l, 2, and a short distance in front of it there is a cap, c, opening toward the hook b.

This cap is filled with indiaarnbber or other like elastic material i nearly to its mouth. (See Fig. 2.) A catch-piece (shown in Figs. 1, 3) has an oblong eye, e, at its rear end, to receive the breeching-strap. In front of this eye there is a inortise, h, Fig. 3, through which the hook b passes when the parts are together, as in Fig. l, and beyond this part there is a shank, k, which enters the cap, and bears against the spring i and compresses it as the catch is forced down over the hook, against which the catch is irmly held by the spring', all the parts being thus kept together without any rattling until the draft is reversed, when, by pulling forward, .the catch is readily freed from the hook b. The plate a is screwed to the thill t by screws near each end, at s s;

.Having thus fully described my improved holdback, what I claim is- The combination of the spring t', cap c, and hook b, with the catch having eye e, mortisc h, and shank k, constructed substantially as and for the purposes described.

CHARLES A. MESSENGER.

Witnesses J J. GREENOUGH, LAWRENCE T. J oNEs. 

